Castiels Lament
by Michael Konnor
Summary: The war in heaven isnt going well so Castiel takes drastic action
1. Chapter 1

The man staggered into the corrugated iron wall of the dockside warehouse and winced as his shoulder screamed in agony. He slid along the wall leaving blood behind him.

"Castiel! I am coming, Castiel!"

The man called Castiel looked round to spot a female approaching. She wore her blond hair tied back and up in a bun with two sticks(what appeared to be chopsticks) embedded in her hair. A smart white shirt with a business jacket covered her torso and a short grey skirt covered hr legs, where there should have been heels or stilettos, she wore sneakers

Castiel straightened his arm and a long thin silver knife slid into his palm

"Tzaphqiel, please don't make me do this.

The angel called Tzaphqiel said nothing and approached brandishing a knife of the same kind Castiel wielded. Tzaphqiel stabbed low as Castiel jumped back out of range. There was a blur of movement as Tzaphqiel shoulder charged Castiel. Castiel dressed as usual in his long raincoat and black suit flew backwards through the air to crash through the wall to land in a heap inside the warehouse.

Tzaphqiel stalked inside as Castiel forced himself to his feet.

"I don't want to fight you, brother. Please i plead with you don't make me do this!"

Tzaphqiel laughed "Do what Castiel? Die like the dog you are? You have turned heaven into a wasteland. I was there at Sodom when our father razed the city to the ground. I was there in Egypt when the first born were slain and the ten plagues consumed the land. Do you really want to know how those compare to what is happening in heaven right now? They don't. You have turned my home into a battlefield, a wasteland, a post apocalyptic shell of what it used to be. You have killed so many of my brothers that i consider myself orphaned because of you, all because of you! What can you possibly do?"

Castiel nodded to a figure in the shadows.

Tzaphqiel gasped in surprise as he felt the blade slid into his back.

"Sorry, old chap, fortunes of war and all that"

Tzaphqiel slid to the ground as a white hot blast of energy seared the air as the angel died. Balthazar stood over the body cleaning his knife on Tzaphqiel's coat. The blond man, dressed with a black sweater, jeans and a a black casual dress jacket looked over at Castiel.

"You OK?"

Castiel nodded but said nothing. Balthazar looked down at the dead female, lying attached to the body as she lay on the ground were burn marks in the shapes of wings.

Balthazar rubbed his hands together

"So what now?"

Castiel looked intently at Balthazar

"We need to end this, i need to talk to Raphael!"

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

Detective Laird knelt over the body. Young woman killed by some unknown weapon, probably sharp bladed instrument delivered through the back. The wing impressions melted into the concrete were a new one on him thoughHe stood up and walked outside to the patrolman on guard.

"Evening Eastman"

The patrolman nodded

"Good evening Sir"

Laird walked past the crates and numerous items the dockworkers had left scattered around when he heard a voice from the shadows

"Hello Zadkiel"

Laird didn't even turn around

"Hello Castiel, been busy i see? This makes how many of us you have slain?"

Castiel stepped from the shadows

"I do not go around slaying my brothers when the need takes me. I defend myself"

Zadkiel took a cigarette from inside his coat pocket and put it in his mouth, it started smoking immediately as he took a puff from it.

"Why are you here?"

"You are known as the Angel of mercy. You who stopped Abraham from slaying his son. You, who have always been compassionate. I come to ask a favour of you"

Zadkiel took one long breath from the cigarette then flicked it from his hand into the water.

"Times change Castiel. I truly thought that mercy was the way. That only by forgiving could we be forgiven. That we should turn the other cheek. That we should be better than he. But of late i have wondered if maybe He was right. Maybe Father was wrong?"

Castiel walked towards Zadkiel slowly and with his hands visible and to his side

"Lucifer was not right. In many ways he was the epitome of what was not right. Our father cared for humans for a reason. He protects them and elevates them because he knows they are the best of us created in a form that is made some say by what is the worst of us. Akin to a pearl made inside an oyster."

Zadkiel sighed

"I am tired brother. I have been on this world so long i have almost forgotten what home is like. Ask your favour"

Castiel reached within an arms reach of Zadkiel and stopped

"I want a parley with Raphael. I ask you to arrange it. I know you are no friend to war, so i ask you to mediate for all our sakes."

Zadkiel laughed and pondered Castiels words

"Castiel, Along with Jophiel I was Michael's standard bearer, i have seen more war and more death in service to my family than even you know. I tire of it brother. If we are perfect beings than why do we do it? If we are so above humans that they seem as the basest and unworthy of creatures then why do we copy them so much. Oft times i think that not so much separates us as other brothers may think."

Castiel sat down on a dockside bench.

"Please, sit"

Laird sat down and rested his back against the back of the bench

"I have been here longer than you Castiel. I see brothers but occasionally, but the news i hear is not good. Brother kills brother. Father is gone and no one rules but chaos. Michal is in the cage with Lucifer. And at the centre of it all are the Winchesters. Two humans who strive to make their mark upon the world. Them and their pet dog, Castiel"

Castiel looked at Zadkiel

"I have known Dean and Sam for a time now, they are good souls who would sacrifice much if i but asked them, but i will not involve them in our concerns, but i will not deny that they have left their mark upon me"

Zadkiel looked over Castiels shoulder towards the darkness between two warehouses.

"And Balthazar? What does he think?"

Castiel shrugged.

"Balthazar keeps his own counsel. His motives, intentions and actions are his own doing."

Zadkiel shook his head sadly

"I would not turn your back on that one, Castiel. Like his biblical namesake, he is wise, unlike his namesake he travels alone. I will consider your favour and inform you of any answer i receive"

Castiel stood up

"Thank you Zadkiel"

Castiel didn't even hear what Zadkiel said next as he walked over to Balthazar.

"Well?"

Castiel looked up at Balthazar as Balthazar was rubbing his silvered knife over an unusual whetstone. The noise it made was not unlike a choir as the metal scraped over the rough stone and the songs of a choir could almost be heard. It was paradise to heightened perceptions of the angels but unfortunately humans could not hear the sweet song of the enchanted rock.

"I believe Zadkiel will do it"

Balthazar smiled as he inspected the top of knife

"Time to end this"

_To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

"It is...ostentatious". Castiel looked up at the New York Plaza hotel.

Zadkiel laughed.

"Castiel, this is the Plaza Hotel. People come here to relax and enjoy themselves. Its almost as if they know their time here is limited and so they wish to enjoy what they have. I have booked in a conference room for you and Raphael. Of course i will have guards guarding curious eyes."

"Who will be guarding our room?"

Zadkiel smiled as if he knew what Castiel didn't.

"Humans. Police officers. I have told them that important talks will be taking place and that is all they know. They are not sure if it is crime lords or diplomats and i fear to say that i am sure they really do not wish to know."

"Is this wise, Zadkiel?"

Zadkiel took deep breath "I have been in almost every war imaginable Castiel. Our brothers fear discovery of this war. Some see the humans as cattle merely waiting to be slaughtered, others seem them as worth saving but either way we will not reveal ourselves to them. Having humans nearby will ensure our secrecy. Its almost apt."

Balthazar walked up behind both of them outside the Plaza. His long woollen black long coat blew around him as the winter wind chilled them all. His black cap and high collar almost masked his presence.

Zadkiel nodded towards him "Hello Balthazar"

Balthazar kept his hands in his pocket

"Shall we go in?", he gestured

Zadkiel shook his head "Castiel, myself and Raphael shall go to the conference room. You shall wait in the Lobby"

Balthazar seemed about to protest but Castiel gently shook his head

Balthazar shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine, but can we go in. I am so cold!"

All three walked into the Plaza hotel. Humans rushed about, ferrying luggage, rushing for meetings, meeting friends, going about their lives, blissfully unaware of events that transpired around them.

Balthazar walked off to the east.

"If anyone needs me i will be in the Champagne Bar", so saying and without waiting for an answer he stalked off

Zadkiel shook his head "Why do you associate with him?"

Castiel looked bewildered "He is my brother and brothers joined by a common goal are a strong force"

Zadkiel put his arm across his chest and stopped him "Castiel, you have millions of brothers. Do not forget that

"Where is Raphael?"

Zadkiel pointed towards the conference room. Two armed guards stood outside, dressed in the SWAT uniform and carrying M1911 heavy pistols.

"He awaits us there"

Wasn't this abit much Zadkiel? We could have carried on with this somewhere more secluded"

"Seclusion doesn't always mean privacy, Castiel. Shall we enter?"

Balthazar stood at the bar and looked around the hotel. His longcoat and cap sat on the empty bar stool next to him. Different meetings were occurring in different conference rooms. They all looked busy. He took a small sip from his drink

"Ahh, nothing like Grouse Whisky"

He looked around and apparently everyone seemed to have not even noticed his comments. They were all too concerned with their own business.

"Another ten plagues within some very small confines is what we need, the good ol' days" he snorted and wandered around skirting the fringes between the bar and the lobby.

4 workers walked past the Bar, all wearing white jumpsuits and carrying duffel bags and iron piping. Balthazar noticed them setting up scaffolding against one of the walls. It looked like they were doing some cosmetic work to the plaster work which framed the lobby in its unique Roman style. Balthazar turned to see a fifth worker painting something over the door, he was about to dismiss him when he saw the red painted circle with arcane runes inserted into it.

The glass dropped from his shaking hand as he realized what it was

"Bugger!"

Zadkiel stood up to address the two archangels

"Will both of you just calm down!"

Raphael's host was a slim African American woman with long straight, dark hair who wore business dress, trousers, blue shirt and slim dark jacket. She glared at Zadkiel.

"Who are you to address me that way?"

Zadkiel walked over to Raphael

"Who am i? I am the angel that has been..."

Both doors flew open as both guards fell backwards, dead , into the conference room. Their bullet riddled bodies landing at the feet of Castiel, Raphael and Zadkiel

Behind the bodies strode one masked man who wore a white jumpsuit and his face was covered with a black balaclava.

"We act for the group known as 'God's Thunder'. Lay down, do nothing and you shall remain living. If you disobey or try to call for help and we shall smite you with all the power at our disposal!"

Zadkiel put both his hands on Castiel and Raphael's wrists

"Do nothing" he hissed quietly

The spokesman threw a bundle of rope into the room

"You!", he pointed at Zadkiel, "tie both of these...people up"

Zadkiel gestured with his eyes to the corner of the room as Raphael and Castiel sat back to back as their hands were tied together.

" I will show these apes what smite really means!", Raphael fumed

A man walked in behind the spokesman and started painting a circle on the window

"I cannot see, Raphael, what is going on?"

Raphael sighed

"They are painting a ward on the windows. It stops Angels from crossing its boundaries. No doubt to keep us out, but no doubt they have failed to realize they have just locked the foxes in the hen house"

Zadkiel tightened the knot on both ropes.

"No humans will be harmed this day, by either of you. Am i understood?"

Raphael glared at the spokesman

"We shall see..."

_To be concluded..._


	4. Chapter 4

Castiel tested his bonds. Zadkiel had tied his ropes tight. He could feel his fingertips tingling as the blood circulation was slowly lessening. He looked up at the door. The bodies of the two guards lay where they fell. Dressed in the armour of SWAT. They were weaponless, the terrorists or robbers or whatever they were had taken their sidearms and he could hear them rounding up guests to put in the other conference rooms. The other guests in their rooms had their doors electronically locked from the reception. No one was walking around free until these people were long gone.

Zadkiel (or Detective Laird as his host was known) was standing up with his hands raised and complying with the demands. He moved when he was told to move, he surrendered his weapon when he was told to and when the three terrorists from outside along with the one in the room started beating him up he took it, stoically but still he took it without complaining or screaming. Castiel admired his resolve, he glanced backward to notice Raphael still testing his bonds and tying to break free.

"Release me!"

One of Laird's assailants walked over to Raphael

"Hey guys, we got a bitch with a mouth on her"

One of the men turned round.

"Show her whose boss"

The man smiled as he pistol whipped Raphael across the face. Her head jerked to the right as he stood up and laughed. Blood coated her lip and bruising started to appear around her mouth.

"What are you two doing here anyway?"

Castiel spoke "Talking, its a high level business meeting"

The man laughed

"BUSINESS meeting? Just you two? What business are you guys in anyway?"

"I will kill you, you insignificant flea!"

Raphael was punched in the face, there was a sharp crunch as Castiel heard his nose breaking.

"We buy and sell commodities"

The man turned round to his friends as they stopped beating Zadkiel to take a breather, they all stood with their hands on their thighs as they gathered their energy. Zadkiel lay in a heap on the floor, his face was all but unrecognizable. He groaned as he lay in a foetal heap on the floor, he would twitch every so often, but he seemed completely oblivious of everything that was happening.

"Hey guys look what i found! We better get the boss, he said to get him if we found one"

One of the Zadkiels assailants went to the conference room door and shouted. A hushed silence was outside as they heard the footsteps approaching. The resounding echo of sleek crisp clear echoes on the marble floor of the Plaza hotel. The man appeared in the room. Dressed in a pair of jeans, white t-shirt and a casual jacket. Long tousled black hair hung to his shoulders. He walked up to the excited man who had found what he was looking for and patted him on the shoulder.

"Good work Leo, the news crews will be here soon, we better send them some demands. Mention religion and blab a little bit about righteous fury, you know, usual doctrine kinda stuff"

His accent was clipped English, he wasn't American or even Middle Eastern. The man held up the silvered blade in front of Raphaels face

"Now then, whatever shall i do with this?"

He looked at Raphael, then walked round to face Castiel

"I am guessing there will be one less angel to put up on the Christmas tree this year. Will it be you Castiel, i wonder?", he spoke in hushed tones as he held the blade up between them

His eyes were pure black

_To be concluded..._


	5. Chapter 5

Two Hours Later: The blonde haired man looked intently at the circle painted on the front door of the Plaza hotel. He would point to a line, trace it to its destination and then ponder what it meant

"Hey! What you doing?"

The masked terrorist walked up to him with his Uzi sub machine pointed at the back of his neck.

"Ah yes, i am just wondering which sub sect of Enoch gave you this wonderful symbol. Its really quite intricate and beautiful in its on way, but sad to say its like an ape trying to copy Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel"

The man thought about it for a minute or so

"Huh?"

"What i mean to say is...oh hell with it"

Balthazar grabbed the man by his gun and threw him head first into the painted symbol, the door and out onto the sidewalk.

Balthazar rubbed his hands as several people started to stand from where they were forced to squat before. One of them approached Balthazar, tentatively

"Are you some sort of special forces?"

Balthazar looked at the man and took a deep breath

"Yes...some sort...special forces"

Balthazar walked sedately towards the conference room where his friend, Castiel and the angel they had been fighting in a heavenly civil war, Raphael were kept hostage by someone, who Balthazar suspected, was not human

He walked into the conference room. Three masked men trained their guns on him, he immediately put his hands up. The fourth man in the room, was squatting next to Castiel with a knife held far too close to his friends face. Raphael had blood streaming from her jaw, the nose was squashed an she looked altogether like she needed ER treatment.

"Oh! There is a god!", he stopped and thought about it and then looked up "Sorry, Father"

A prone form on the floor looked like Zadkiel, the angel of mercy whose host was Detective Laird of the NYPD. He had been badly beaten and was not liable to be awake, conscious or even mobile for quite a time yet

"Who the hell are you?"

"Ah yes i am the driver for these two executives here and i am just wondering how long you guys will be"

The man squatting next to Castiel looked closely at Bathazar and then his eyes widened

"Kill him! Kill him now"

Three of the men took aim with their guns and squeezed their triggers. Bullets impacted his Balthazar's body as he fell in a heap at the door on top of the guards were still prone dead bodies

The man smiled.

"Now then Castiel, where were we?"

Three shots rang out and the three men fell where they were. Balthazar stood up, blood streaming from numerous wounds on his body, hoisting a snub nosed revolver.

"One of the guards carried this in an ankle holster, who woulda knew!"

The demon stood up and charged Balthazar with the knife leading the way. Balthazar took the knife and doubled it back as the demons arm broke as it was bent at an unsightly angle and penetrated his body. Small flashes of lightning danced over the wound as his eyes glowed then died, he fell over, dead

Zadkiel started to get to his feet as Raphael's face started to heal

"What happened?",Raphael managed to say

Balthazar handed the gun, handle first, to Zadkiel

"The ward apparently was mis-drawn, it didn't stop angels from crossing its boundaries, it stopped magic and rituals, they misdrew one of the enochian lines."

"Why couldn't we heal or use our powers?", Castiel looked at his friend as he started massaging feeling back into his hand

"Angels are innately magical beings, the wards inhibited our natural abilities, we were essentially human"

"A profoundly sad state of affairs", Raphael said, looking concerned.

"I eliminated one of the wards by the front door and once we are outside we can leave"

Raphael looked at Balthazar

"Why not rip these ones down?"

"The ward wont let anyone touch it but those who set it, humans basically and graffiti isn't that high on the NYPD's list of things to deal with currently"

"Very well, let us go", Raphael huffed

All three walked out of the Plaza and were greeted by a plethora of flashes as the media and patrolman surged forward breaking the police lines and engorging the three angels within a mob.

Castiel shouted to his two accomplices

"I think we'd better leave"

A rustle of wings sounded and all three were gone. The mob dispersed and were left look9ng around at the empty space where the three men had been

Zadkiel walked out behind them and watched them vanish. No human could see them they moved to fast but Zadkiel watched them leave with a sense of longing

"Fare well brothers, I am sorry this had to happen to you"

"Detective, what will we do?"

Laird gestured inside the hotel

"Get that graffiti fixed and take everyone to hospital who needs treatment"

A few of the patrolman walked inside the hotel as Laird withdrew hi mobile phone from his inner breast pocket. He dialled a number and waited for an answer

"That didn't go as was planned you screwed up. No one was supposed to get hurt and Castiel and Raphael were supposed to die."

Laird could hear the voice on the other end exhaling smoke

"This is war my dear Zadkiel, most plans never survive past inception"

Laird could feel his grip tightening on the phone

"Listen to me, i spent millenia accompanying Michael in conflicts to places you never knew existed. Now he's trapped with Lucifer and that shouldn't be right, that shouldn't be Fathers plan. When he lets the best of us be imprisoned and raises the lowest of us to the rank of Archangel. I don't understand and thousands of us are dying each day. That shouldn't be!"

The other person had hung up

"Damnit!"

Zadkiel looked to the sky

"I will fix this, i swear!"

_Epilogue: Dean sat in front of the TV with his brother,Sam and their friend, Bobby Singer watching Monster Truck Rally 5, they had lap trays with TV dinners and a bottle of beer in one hand as their show was interrupted._

"_Breaking news live from NY as a daring terrorist raid was foiled by two men and their female accomplice!" _

_The TV shifted to the outside of the Plaza hotel as the camera zoomed in on Balthazar, Castiel and Raphael walking into the crowd. All three stood up in shock and spat beer all over the TV as they saw the images, their TV dinners landing all over the floor the Truck rally all but forgotten_

_End_


End file.
